interface error: 5 the connection is not stable

Barbera,

are you using DVD-R or DVD+R??


Thanks!

Mostly +R (always Verbatim) - the only reason for the +R is the fact that my DVD Recorder prefers it (doesn't interact well with -R's for some reason). Only occasionally do I use -R's - specifically for two friends whose (ancient) DVD player won't play anything but... In any case, my Toast version is 10.0.2 and I don't have a problem burning; have not updated that because "why fix it if it ain't broke" unless there is a major benefit/added functionality.

Edit: Also, I always burn at the slowest speed available and I don't have any other processes or applications open or working while burning. And I turn off the screen saver and/or sleep during the burning process as well.

Message was edited by: Barbara Daniels1

I went out and purchase a 21.5" for my wife for x-mas this past year. My only motivation was for photos, music, and movie burning. I can do none of these things with my brand new iMac. I was very excited to back up our kids movies as my girls are pretty rough on them at times. I purchased Toast 10 and was able to back up one video_ts file. Every other try and yielded "the coaster". Extremely unhappy. Unless fixed soon, I will be boycotting all Apple products as I've had poor experiences with my powerbook, ipod, and now iMac.

Everyone always sung the praises of the Mac, but so far, I call it a complete disappointment. I already had 3 other PC's which can do more than my new Mac paperweight. This thing was a waste of money.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience - I have no idea why the various posters here are having problems while it works for me.

Can you relate the exact steps you took resulting in the coaster - the more details the better.

Using the Mac the Ripper, I ripped my one of our kiddo DVD's to the HD....then I used a compression software( DVD Backup) to compress, and then attempted to use Toast 10 to reanimate to the DVD...The first time I went through it, all three process worked fine. The second movie I tried went smooth through the ripper and compression, but I get the dread "unstable connection" message with toast in lead write-in. I'm using HP DVD-R discs that I had on hand...4 attempts at Toast 10 yielded 4 coasters.

Are these DVD's homemade movies or purchased DVD's? If they're homemade, I'd import them into iMovie or, if necessary, use MPEG Streamclip first. In any case, that is the only method I've used and it works well.

I've never used either Mac the Ripper or DVD Backup compression software, so I can't and won't address that part - see the two links to other threads regarding copyrighted DVD's:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10408470&#10408470

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10820514&#10820514

hello everybody
i live in the netherlands, and use mac since 1986.
recently i bought the new imac, and also expericienced same nasty error issues...

i am using now a different program called Burn, below is the web-page.
http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/Dutch/home.html

the program is free, and works perfectly.
for time being no more Toast.

Is either Apple or Roxio actually going to address this issue? The exact symptoms regardless of media brand have been posted both here and on the Roxio forums with no solution.

I've been researching this for hours to no avail. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

If you and everyone else having a problem are trying to rip copyrighted materials, these discussion boards are not the right place to address your problems. Discussing those here is against the rules and the entire thread may be deleted and neither Apple nor Roxio will address those problems.

On the other hand, if all but one of you are just trying to burn your own homemade movies or slideshows, I maintain that the problem is either with Toast or possibly even user error. Rather than just rant, it would be far more helpful to detail the exact steps you and everyone else used, what materials you are trying to burn, etc.

I have no problems at all burning my own materials and everyone should try to use some common sense tactics while burning:

Use only high quality brands media.
Burn at the slowest speed available.
Turn off your screen saver, sleep, etc. options before burning.
Do not use any other application while burning.

I am actually trying to backup data files I created. Many are for a program called "X-Plane". None of the issues I'm having are related to burning copyrighted materials of any sort.

Burning at minimum speed somewhat defeats the purpose of purchasing the newest hardware and software available.

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to reply and I suppose it's time for me to break down and phone Apple.

This is a Roxio Toast problem since you can burn with Finder and iTunes without any issues. I have the same 27" iMac that gives the same errors when I use Toast 10 or Toast 9. Roxio tech support is terrible.

Hopefully, Apple will be helpful; there are quite a few threads about these problems, so maybe there is something they can do; in the meantime, I had another thought:

Actually, it could possibly have something to do with your software - I have a few applications which have limitations, i.e. they are coded in a way where it "knows" if I try to have it on more than one machine. I inadvertently ran into that a few years back when I wasn't aware of all the copyright issues and thought I could put a copy of it on my laptop. It did not work.

As for the "newest hardware", the superdrives in all iMacs are the very same models as those in the laptops; Apple does not have that many choices because they have to fit into a narrow and tight space. I would think that a larger tray-loading desktop burner would always be more robust and reliable than a narrow vertical slot-loading drive. And using the highest speed while attempting to do anything certainly does not guarantee a perfect result. I'd rather give it extra time and go do something else while it's doing its' job.

Message was edited by: Barbara Daniels1

Thanks again Barbara. Your generous input to these forums is greatly appreciated.

I've got the 27" iMac in addition to two new 13" MacBook Pros in the fleet. The MacBook Pros report different DVD drives than the iMac in System Profiler. Maybe I'll uninstall Toast 10 from the iMac and try it on one of the MacBook Pros for a test. I'll also give my LG external drive a go on the iMac.

As much as we wish things would "just work", I've decided to treat this as a fun challenge.

Cheers,

Kevin

When I find some time over the next few days, I'll report my findings.

I know they may be different brands of drives, but when I talked to Apple at least two years ago regarding a problem with a drive, I was told that the iMacs all essentially had the same type of drive as the laptops because that was the only type that would fit in the narrow space. I decided then and there that I would not rely on any internal and that the problem possibly was a "form over function" issue. Apple comes up with the absolutely coolest designs - but some things may suffer because of it. Good luck with Apple!

Brand new ( less then 1 month ) imac 3.06GHz ( late 2009 issue ) having just recently a "burning issue "

"Interface error 5

The connection is not stable" with Toast 10.5.

I lost 3 DVD's.

I ran TechToolPro 5 from TTPro virtual drive and the hard drive, directory, files etc all check out no problems.

After the restart a tried another "burn" with Toast 10.5 and the same brand of DVD without any problems.

I do believe that somewhere between Leo and the CD/DVD built in burner there is a bug.

I can only wish now that apple silently fixes the problem with a update to LEO and firmware update to their drives.